For the second time in four games the Bruins blew a two-goal lead, but this time they did it in the worst of places against the most-hated of teams.

The Montreal Canadiens scored 1:34 apart in the final 2:30 of the third period to tie the score and then won it in the extra session on a Max Pacioretty goal with 1:17 left in overtime.

The Bruins and Canadiens are now tied for first place in the Northeast Division with 49 points apiece. Boston is still ahead by virtue of its two games in hand, but Montreal has two more wins.

Scott Gomez scored a lucky goal, on a shot that was barely an inch off the ice and deflected by Zdeno Chara’s skate, with 2:22 remaining to cut the Bruins’ lead in half. However, Michael Ryder’s lazy tripping penalty on the forecheck allowed the Habs to get their momentum going when down 2-0 and seemingly ready to leave without any standings points.

Then Chara iced the puck with 1:06 left while attempting to bury an empty-net goal from along the wall in the defensive zone even with the faceoff dot. Inexplicably, the Bruins had their fourth line of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton on the ice protecting the one-goal lead and Campbell lost the draw. The Habs moved the puck around and tied the game with 47.7 seconds left. Patrice Bergeron’s line had just finished up a shift, but head coach Claude Julien could have called upon David Krejci’s trio (possibly with a more defense-minded substitute for Tyler Seguin).

In overtime, Boston survived (barely) a 4-on-3 power play caused by a Wheeler lazy stick foul behind the Montreal net. But then Pacioretty finished them off at even strength after the Bruins’ shot to win the game ended with Marc Savard’s pass to Ryder on a 2-on-2 being broken up by Benoit Pouliot.

Here’s a glance at the box score:

•Tim Thomas was brilliant until the closing minutes and finished the night with 39 saves.

•The slumping Boston power play was 0-for-3, which means the Bruins now have no man-advantage goals in five straight games (0-for-13).

•Tonight was a perfect example of how the Bruins’ three-center monster can be tough to match up against. The Habs, without defensive stud Josh Gorges, decided to match up their bulky pair of blueliners — Hal Gill and P.K. Subban — against Savard’s line with Ryder and Milan Lucic. Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi took advantage of the match-up with Alexander Picard and James Wisniewski by scoring twice, both off the stick of Bergeron.

•Wisniewski got his revenge with an assist on the tying goal and two penalties drawn down the stretch.

•The bottom line is, the Bruins with their 2-0 lead stopped skating in the third period. They were outshot, 18-8, and outworked in all three zones. Thomas was the only reason the game wasn’t tied up sooner than it was. In a season of disappointing, this was probably the worst so far.

I have to disagreed David, I think Neely has had enough. When you go on the local radio voicing your displeasure for multiple coaching decisions, as a coach you have to be ready for the circumstances that come along with that. Though I will say Neely did not place 100% of the blame on CJ, the players are accountable too.

The Bruins need to find their “Guy Boucher”… a young, intelligent, emotional coach who can garner respect from his teammates not only with his mind, but with his energy. With the exception of the Atlanta game on 12/23, the B’s have lacked passion the entire year it seems… and it’s not entirely their fault. At this point it’s old hat to say this, but the system which Claude has the B’s operating in is not DYNAMIC. How can players be expected to succeed in a system that stifles individual skill? There are no surprises for opposing players to deal with, no plays scripted to get our best shooters into dangerous areas, NO RISKS TAKEN. EVER. We have the best goaltending tandem in the league, and statistically one of the best defenses… why not send a player behind the opposing defense when the puck is in your zone but looks to be in your possession momentarily? Remember Seguin’s first NHL goal? How about running more backdoor plays for defensemen and encouraging snipers like Ryder and Horton to move through the slot when they don’t have the puck? The dump-and-chase to cycle-down-low to point-shot-into-traffic strategy is obviously failing miserably.

We don’t have a Patrick Kane. Or a Jonathan Toews. Or a Marian Hossa. We don’t have an offensive player who is a game-breaker. So the B’s sure as hell need a fantastic offensive strategy to compensate if they want to even dream about dreaming about dreaming about coming close to the Stanley Cup.

It’s no longer about what Claude has done WRONG. It’s about what he hasn’t done at all.

Contrary to the other posts Im gonna have to call out the Bruins skilled players on this one, not the coach. They were uninspired on the power player, and they didnt get it done offensively. They just didnt get enough chances and goals and it came back to haunt them.

Say what you will of Claude Juliens style of coaching. It had them as one of the top offensive talents two years ago and the worst last year. Personally I don’t think it’s the coaches style, but an inability of the players themselves to get it done.

Aside from Bergeron, who has been by far their best player the last 10 plus games, their skilled players have been nothing.

Where has David Krecji been? He did nothing with the puck all night. He has been a shell of himself since his concusion, aside from some flashes of brilliance here and there.

Savard has been showing some of those flashes too, but is clearly not where he was two years ago before the injury plagued season of last year. He makes too many odd passes that nobody sees coming but might work if he were playing with somebody who were reading his mind.

Lucic has been pointless (in a figurative sense) since the Toronto game.
Ryder (who I think has had a good season overall) has also been a no-show the last few.

Ultimately it was offense, powerplay especially, that killed them in this game. The Canadiens played well in the third, but their two goals were flukes. That’s the sort of stuff that happens when you can’t score enough goals for insurance.

It’s the coaches “decisions” that have the team where they are right now. Having Rask on the bench for over 1/2 a month, odd benching’s. The way this team has been playing, taking every other period off, playing prevent hockey with a 1 goal lead in all periods…we’re destined for another early playoff exit. Maybe CJ is just not “the right guy”.

Absolutely gut-wrenching loss (again). No killer instinct in the third; the team is more focused on preventing a 2-1 score then burying the opposition with a third goal. For what it’s worth, I think that Campbell’s line was on the ice at the end because they couldn’t come off following Chara’s icing.

really questionable CJ decisions on putting campbell out for a good chunk of the third, including the faceoff you mention, and double shifting Bergeron’s PK unit in OT. Also seems like every time we have a lead in the third we’re being instructed to prevent, prevent, prevent and ultimately get hemmed in our own end